The Lunch Witch

Vol. 01

When Grunhilda the witch is forced to look for new work, she finds a job as a school lunch lady, where she enjoys scaring the children, until a little girl with thick glasses named Madison comes along and sees through her act.

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Gr 5-8- Bad business has left the witch Grunhilda with no choice, she must find a new job. Her limited skill set leaves her with few options though, for "nobody really believes in magic anymore"[pg 13]. On her first day as lunch lady for the local elementary school, her secret gets discovered by an underachieving little girl who decides to blackmail her. Nonetheless, Grunhilda chooses to help, but her good intentions lead to trouble. Funny thing is, turning into a toad is the exact lesson Madison needs. Muted colours, irregular human designs, and brown, food-stained paper give the impression that something is a little bit off... just like a cafeteria lunch! This is quite a fitting look for a witch now serving her potions to school children. At first glance, this uncommon, yet internally consistent style may deter children accustomed to the usual fare. However, given the chance, the misadventures of this witch will have no problem pulling readers in.

It's funny and heartwarming. This is a great story about a witch who acts big and bad, but has a heart of gold (or some gooey substance). As a lunch lade, Grunhilda has fun dishing out disgusting food to the kids. When one of the kids finds out her secret and blackmails her, it's really time for Grunhilda to get cooking. Can she help Madison without incurring the wrath of other witches?

So clever! A witch who can't get a job becomes...a lunch lady! And her better nature gets the best of her as she helps a student. Lots of great humor, with the facial expressions laugh out loud funny. Worth the time. For readers 8 and older.

It's hard out here for a witch in this economy and in a world that doesn't believe in magic. Grunhilda finds herself working as a lunch lady after she's deemed not scary enough for work as a fake witch(!). She meeds Madison, a girl who is not applying herself in school and asks Grunhilda for a potion to make her smarter. Madison doesn't quite get what she asked for and Grunhilda angers the ancestors by working good with the family spell book.

It's a fun, offbeat, late night read (though not scary, more macabre and funny) and this witch does not mess around with how much of a witch she is but, perhaps, she's a little bit changed by the experience as much as Madison is.